Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Hey!
Well not too much has happened since we last talked. I LOVED talking on
Christmas. But it also made me a little homesick afterward... Oh well
that's good I guess! So after we talked we went over to our
investigator, Irene's, house and had some pozole and pan dulce. Some of
my favorite things! :) we shared a really good Christmas message with
them. They are a great family! But they have a hard time actually taking
the steps which they need to... I just know that if they will come to
church, they will get a confirmation that these things are true and
Joseph smith was a true prophet... On the plus side our church is
changing times to 1 o'clock next week so I just know we will have a lot more success with our investigators coming to church :)

We
are kind of running out of miles for the rest of the month so we
decided we should start walking some more, well on Saturday the day we
decided to walk it POURED. like the worst rain storm I

have seen since
being here in Tennessee. Haha that was wonderful
we found a lot of people and set up return appointments. Oh ALSO we got
transfer calls on Saturday. Hermana torres and I are staying here for
another transfer, which I feel okay about. We had a huge miracle Sunday.
We had set a goal to have 6 investigators at church on Sunday. But Saturday night we
were a little worried we would only have four. But guess what? SIX!!!!!
And it was a huge miracle. We had the 3 girls, Natalie, Amanda, and
Melanie, Sabu, Felipe, and Beto!!! Okay so Beto and Felipe are the
miracles. First Felipe's phone hasn't had service all week. And we
haven't been able to contact him or even find him! But he came to
church. And he actually wore slacks, WHAT? That never happens. So Beto,
he is angele's boyfriend and I don't think even too interested in the
gospel. We went over on Wednesday and shared a little message with him
and angele's and Then I guess on Saturday night he
texted sister noble and said he wanted to come to church and if she
would wait for him so he doesn't go in alone (angele's has to work some
Sunday mornings) well he came!!!! With angeles too!!! But she had to
leave after sacrament and he stayed for all 3 hours!!!! WHAT. then we
asked him if he wanted to start taking the missionary lessons and he
said yes!!!!!! And then later that night he had sent a text to sister
noble saying how he was pretty excited. What. Miracle. It was awesome.
We taught him last night and it went pretty good! He likes to try and
not understand something's we teach him, but he knows it's true.... He
just needs to soften his heart.

This next week should be fun! On Thursday we get to sleep in until 8! Then we have a super p day from 10 am to 8 pm.
That should be fun. President is letting us get together with the zone
too. He even is approving a list of g or oh rated movies to watch. That
should be great :) we have a ton of return appointments too. I'm looking
forward to this week and this next transfer. :)

I
am so thankful for technology and the chance we got to FaceTime. It was
great seeing you all. I hope you like the Tennessee shirts! They are
pretty cool I think ;) hope you guys have a great week and a HAPPY NEW
YEAR be safe :)

Friday, December 26, 2014

I
have wanted to title my Christmas email that since I got my call.... I
hope you enjoyed and sang a little bit of the song with it.. Haha I get
to see you on Thursday!!!! I am freaking out. Best Christmas ever!! Also
I got your package. And I loved the little nativity, so cute, so thank
you :) I am honestly shocked that this week is over... How did it happen
so fast? I have no idea, but that's okay! This letter might be a little
shorter than normal but we get to talk on Thursday! Yahoo.

Best
news ever. So we decided to help Felipe want to read the Book of Mormon
more, and so we started giving him questions to find while he reads.
It's great. So we had this awesome lesson about faith with him and
sister noble and we left him alma 32 to read, well the next day we were
close by his place so we thought we would just say hi, well we did and
when we asked him if he read (expecting he wouldn't have cuz he never
does...) HE READ!!!!!!! He showed us his Book of Mormon and he had high
lighted all the answers to his questions. WAHHHH!!! We were freaking
out. I might have almost started crying.... Haha it was seriously so
great.

I
still haven't been able to go to the temple yet... We go every six
months and they went like 2 weeks before I got here... Sad. But we went
to Franklin this last week for a couple days and we stopped by the
temple and took some pictures. It seriously is just so super tiny. The
stake center is next to the temple and is bigger than it... Haha I feel
like I could jump and touch angel Moroni. But it's so beautiful!!!

Well
the little girls we have been teaching are doing great too! They came
to church again this week :) that's 3 weeks in a row. They are the
sweetest girls in the world and I love them to bits and pieces. We
taught them the plan of salvation and they really liked it and could
understand it. We are hoping to teach them the gospel of Jesus Christ
this next week and talk with their dad about being baptized if it's okay
with him. They are so sweet, cute, and smart. I love them!!

Saturday
we had our Ward Christmas party and it was so much fun! Santa came and
brought toys for all the kids! It was a blast. I love the ward here! On
Sunday we also had the Christmas program in sacrament meeting. The
Spanish group sang La Primera Navidad... It wasn't tooo awful but not
good haha my ward is great but let's just say not too much music
talent... But it was still a nice meeting :)

This week was great and sorry I'm not writing much but we get to talk in 3 days!!!! Yahoo :)

I love you so much!!!

Love always,

Hermana Brown :)

Also! GO UTES!! I started doing the Utah man when I read they won. Hermana Torres thought it was weird.. Oh well. Go Utes!!

These
are some of the girls we teach. The cutest. Left to right. Hma Torres,
Natalie (9), Zuly (2), Melanie (8), Amanda (7), me :)

Christmas pics with our district... Kinda weird haha

Me and my buddy hma Torres :)

We made a mega "Él es la dádiva" (he is the gift) thing on our wall...

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Wow
this week went flying by. It was so busy!! First couple of things, I
got your package with the paper Christmas tree and everything. I love it
:) I put it up right then! I will have to get a picture of me by it or
something to send home. So thank you! And dad thanks for the book, it
will probably make me bawl like a baby but crying is sometimes good,
right? Haha so this week was great!!! So we had noche de Hogar with the
hales family on Monday with our investigator Franco and when we got
there he had brought his friend Sabu. But it was a little tricky Sabu
doesn't speak Spanish. So we had our lesson half and half. We would
discuss half in English, translate to Spanish and vice versa. It was
actually really fun and we learned a lot! And Sabu is so cool!! Like he
really wants to know the truth. He was also very excited about reading
the Book of Mormon too. Franco couldn't come to church yesterday, but
Sabu did and he stayed for all 3 hours and he really liked it. So that
was awesome!!

Well
we did exchanges with the STL's again this week.... And I stayed here
in Columbia... Me and all my little Spanish. BUT it went great. I was so
nervous and I don't think I have ever prayed so hard on my life before.
And my prayers were totally answered!! So me and sister carpenter went
to our night appointments. We couldn't get in anywhere because the
families were leaving or weren't home. We decided to stop by at one of
our potential investigators, Jacinta's. And I just have this love for
her. She is just this amazing lady and is so close to the spirit. Well
we have taught her before, we taught her the restoration about a month
or so ago but haven't been able to see her again because she is always
working and busy. But we drove past her house and her car was there and
all her lights too!! I was kind of nervous but just so happy to see her.
We went in and starts talking and recapped the restoration. She had a
lot of questions about the apostasy and Jose smith. So it was really
good to go over it. Over all it went really good!!! And I could
understand all she was saying. Seriously. It's such an amazing blessing
and tender mercy from the lord. After we had missionary correlation and
then we went to stop by and see Felipe. Well usually he is like "come in
come in" and we never can because Olivia isn't there but it was so
cool! He just grabbed his jacket, turned a movie on for max and came
outside. It was incredible! We talked a lot about the temple and life
and the scriptures and baptism. Usually Felipe just kind of messes with
me because I can't speak Spanish all too well but he was serious the
whole night. It was such a tender mercy! He is such a cool guy.

On
Friday we had zone conference so that was way fun too! Elder Rundlund
from the seventy came with his wife. He is way cool!! Overall it was a
really good zone conference and I got to see Hermana Levao so that's
always fun :) she is a cutie! Let's just say her companion and I are a
little different so I think she is struggling a bit. But it's good for
her :)

On
Saturday it was sister nobles son, Alex's baptism. It was really and
cool. He is such a sweet cute boy! That night was sister nobles daughter
quincera! We stopped by for a bit to grab some food, talk to some less
actives and find a few new potentials. That was really fun too! Also we
went and visited one of our progressing investigator family in spring
hill and earlier the mom was telling us that her son just really wanted a
Christmas tree but they just didn't know if they good be getting one
this year or not. Well there was a tree at our apartment with lights and
ornaments and we decided to go and take it to them and decorate with
them. It was so much fun and they kids were so cute!! I don't think I
have just been filled with so much love and happiness. I'm so grateful
for the chance I get to have to be a missionary right now at this time.
Let alone a member of this church. I also just love this Christmas time
when the whole world can truly focus on the Savior and his birth and
life.

Also
miracle!!! We had an amazing lesson with Felipe!! We decided to have it
at the church and wow that really brought the spirit. We read 1 Nefi 8
all about the tree of life and everything and it was great. He was just
eating it all up :) we even asked him to say the closing prayer and
usually we will argue it and Hermana Torres and I will end up saying it
after about 10 minutes, and this time he just said it. And it was a real
sincere heartfelt prayer. It was so amazing. I can't believe how crazy
it's been at home, but busy is always fun I think :) I'm sad to say I
missed the Santa party... But it looked like it was fun like always. I
am stoked to hear about Murray basketball and the Utes!!! Thanks for all
your love and support and like Brandon would say, keep it crunk. Haha

Love always,

Hermana Brown :)

On Monday night we were visiting Hermana Angeles and she totally caked me for no reason....

How
did this week go by so dang fast??? Oh well that just a good sign I
feel like! Sounds like everything at home is going good too :) I was
actually saying on Tuesday night to Hermana torres, because we drove
past the high school and I said "$10 bucks says my parents are at the
high school basketball game right now" and oh how correct I was! :) okay
this week was really fun! First off, good news!!!! We got a full time
car!!!!!!! Yahoo!! We were struggle the last few weeks and we finally
decided to call the AP's and ask for their advice what we should do. We
just couldn't get to our people that we needed to see. Well last week
the AP's called us and told us we would have the car full time now!
Seriously such a blessing.

Okay
this week was really good. On Monday night we had a FHE with our
investigator Franco. He is just such a cool guy and is genuinely wanting
to find and to know the truth. We had it at the hales house. Their
house is SO cool. Mom you would love it. They live out in the country
and like their house is just like this way cool cabin and it's like on a
farm. They own so many acres of land too. And they 130 chickens and
like this huge green house too. Well we had dinner and then had like a
way good lesson about the restoration. And brother and sister Hales
killed it!!!! Franco loved it. So much fun.

Also
We met this lady Maria who we have been trying to contact and visit.
Finally we were able to have a lesson with her! She is great. Way cute
lady with 3 really cute boys. We taught her the restoration and she
seemed to really like it. Also we invited her to be baptized on the
first lesson! What. We have never done that so that was a little scary.
But it was good. We just did a soft invite and asked if she came to find
these things to be true would she follow the example of Jesus Christ
and be baptized. She said yes!! Woot woot. We can't wait to go back and
meet with her.

It
was sister nobles youngest sons, Anthony, birthday this last week too
and she invited us for dinner and cake. We had fish tacos and they were
delicious. Who would have come to see the day when I would eat fish
tacos?? Haha well it came and it was delicious. The mission is really
changing me..... I also had a burrito this last week that had tons of
guacamole and I loved it.... Who am I becoming? Haha just kidding but
really. It was a fun time! That family is great!!! And so awesome to us
missionaries.

On
Friday we went up to Franklin and had a great lesson with this guy
Richard, who was actually found by the elders in Franklin and given to
us. He is way cool. He is super involved with his church but loves the
lord more than anything I think. We are hoping to help him understand
priesthood and the restoration of priesthood.

On
Saturday we had a great day too!!!! The best. We went back to the hales
but this time we had a lesson with Felipe and Olivia!!! It was great.
They brought their kids too. We had a great lesson on families and we
read the proclamation to the family together and discussed it. It went
great and Olivia was all over it. After they invited us to stay for
lunch. It was so cool. Hermana Torres and I got to go and cute the
lettuce from the green house and everything! So fun. And then we got to
go collect the chicken eggs and feed the chickens too. We forgot to
bring our iPads so we didn't get any pictures... :( but we will be back
up there in the next few weeks and we will get some more pictures!!!

We
also have been teaching this family, we call them "the 7 girls" because
it's a family that has 7 girls ages 17-2! Crazy. But we have really
only teaching the dad and 3 of the girls. The mom is never home because
she is always working, it's pretty sad.... Those girlies just need a
mom. The dad is really cool. But yesterday the 3 girls came to church!!
Natalie (10) Melanie (9) and Amanda (7) and they loved it!!!!! Their dad
couldn't come but is going to come next week :) we get to have fast
Sunday in Spanish and we had 30 people come this last time. It was
great!!! :)

Overall
things are going great. The weather has been pretty nice and not too
cold. I am really starting to love this area more and more. I am so
grateful for the chance that I have to be a missionary at this time.
Also we are have a member of the 70 come to our zone conference Friday!!
Crazy. His name is elder Rundland, I'm not sure if I spelled that right
or not...

Sounds
like things are going good back at home. I'm glad Megan's funeral went
well and everything. She is such a sweet heart. I'm sorry to hear about
no snow yet.... The worst! I'm actually hoping we don't get any snow
because if we do I will probably get homesick and we all know we don't
want that to happen. Haha. Are you guys having a Santa Claus party
too??? Sounds fun. Also exciting about the utes! $10 says you all get
your Christmas gift and a trip to Vegas..... Haha that will be fun! Well
I love you all so much! Have a great week :)

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Mi
familia! Hola!! Como estan? Espero todo es bien con usteds! Haha how is
my spanish?? Well first off, HAPPY THANKSGIVING and HAPPY FIRST DAY OF
DECEMBER!! I can't believe that it's already December... So crazy. Well
it sounds like your thanksgiving was good!! I'm going to be honest....
This thanksgiving was definitely different..... But it was okay :) it
just is weird to have holidays on your mission... I am so excited for
Christmas though :) president said we can skype!!!!!!!!! Yahoo!!! I'm so
stoked. I will get more info and let you guys know when and how and how
to add me and all that jazz.

Anyway
this week was so dang hard. But it was a good week. We struggled a lot
and walked a lot more, but we also saw tons of tender mercies from the
lord. Always the best!! We decided not to be in contact with Felipe this
week and just kind of let things be. We ended up seeing him at one of
our members birthday party and it was good!! This member is Hispanic so
they invited us and we were able to talk and contact a ton of people!!
It was actually great. We got a new Ward mission leader, and he is
American but speaks Spanish and is married to a Mexican lady and he was
just fellowshipping Felipe the whole time at the party. The best part is
that we are having a family home evening at their house tonight with felipe! So let's see how that goes :)

Besides
that we did a ton of contacting and finding and trying to visit some of
our potential investigators. On Wednesday we walked so much and so far
and when we finally got to the house of a less active we knocked and no
one was home. We went and knocked a few more houses and decided to go
and try the house again. We knocked and knocked and knocked then it
started pouring and storming. We decided just to wait on the dry porch
for a little longer and wait for our ride. We decided to knock one more
time, and Luis answered!!!! We were able to talk with him about his
baptism and everything. Hopefully we can get in and get him back to
church.

Also!!!!
We are trying to build up our priesthood in our spanish so we can start
a branch sooner if we have so many Spanish priesthood holders. Well we
were talking to this guy at Walmart and he told us that his cousin is a
member and served his mission in Monterrey Mexico too and he just moved
back here but he didn't know where the church was. Well yesterday we got
a call from The guy!!! His name is Daniel and he is an RM and
everything. It's just what we need!! :)

Onto
thanksgiving. It was different. We got ready and went around and shared
little messages about being thankful and gratitude. The thing we were
scared of was that every Hispanic we go and visit will want to feed us.
And so We went to the Abacs and they forced us to eat... It was really
good. We had turkey and rice and beans and tortillas. Haha it was
different but really good too! After we had our dinner appointment at
the cooks. It was good as well!
it was so nice of them to feed us and it was really good too!! Then our
dinner at margaritas.... Hahaha she canceled on us.... Joy. We ended up
going to say happy thanksgiving to our less active Beaty, and they
invited us and it was so good!!!! This way good pork, and noodles, and
pancho and that was good. It's like a little bit like wassel but
different at the same time haha. Overall it was a great thanksgiving.
And I have so much to be thankful for in my life :)

This
next week we have a ton of appointments and are even going to try and
set a date with this guy named Franco. He has been to church the last 2
weeks and he loves it!!! He even asked one of our members what he needs
to do to be baptized. WHAT. Please pray for him. He is just such a cool
guy and kind of reminds me of Pedro off of napoleon dynamite. Hahaha he
is great!! :)

Dad,
the house looks great!!!! I love the white lights around the windows.
It looks great. And mom the tree looks really good too. I need a picture
of that camel in the window though!!! I'm glad it was fun to have
brandon and haley come up too. They are the best!!! Also mad props to
you all for doing that 5k!!! I want pictures. I love you all so much. I
am so blessed to have the best family ever. I missed you guys this
thanksgiving but I am more thankful that we are gonna be together
forever. Have a great first week of December hopefully some snow will
come too to add to the house :)

Hello
family! It sounds like you guys are all doing well!! Also sounds like
utah is getting cold... Tennessee is so bipolar... One day it's super
cold, the next in the high 60s or 70s.... But luckily I have my handy
dandy knee, so I can tell if it's going to get colder or not. Its a
little achy right now so let's see how the week unfolds... Haha this
week was a good week!!! We taught a total of 30 lessons!! Cool right?! I
was pretty excited. I'm still trying to figure out how this week went
by so dang fast... I seriously can't believe that this week is
thanksgiving!!! It will be fun to have Brandon and Haley home this next
week! Don't do anything too fun without me ;) haha and now Brandon can
eat all the garlic he wants and I won't be there telling him how gross
he smells... Haha But maybe don't sleep in my room... Who knows how long
that smell could stay in my room.... Hahaha just kidding :)

This
week was really good but also just kind of disappointing.... Satan is
the worst! Things went well with Felipe when we had another lesson with
sister noble. The spirit was so strong and wow it was great. Then it
just goes back to the same old... Felipe just doesn't want to put in the
effort... We decided we are just going to give him some space and time
to realize what he wants and needs to do with his life. We got Irene
and her kids to come to the Wednesday night activities and it was great.
They loved it. We then just had a lesson with them. It went really good
and then Irene said the most heartfelt prayer ever. On Thursday we also
had a really good lesson about the Book of Mormon. We showed the Mormon
message of elder Hollands testimony of the Book of Mormon and it is so
powerful. You could tell that it really touched Irenes heart. She
definitely seemed more interested in reading now. But then Satan got a
hold of their hearts and they didn't come to church on Sunday :( Irene
kind of has depression and anxiety... And some days are just better than
the others... We are still working so hard with them. Please pray for
them to come to church!! But we did have a cool miracle. There is
another family in the Ward, the Hales family and they are amazing. The
mom is Mexican and the dad went to Costa Rica on his mission so he
speaks fluent Spanish. Well they have told us about their friend Franco
who is interested in the church. He came to the breakfast for dinner
dinner at the church and then he came to church yesterday!! It was
great. We didn't have much time to talk with him after, but he stayed
for all 3 hours! The cool part though, we were walking to some
investigators houses yesterday and guess who we see driving? Franco!! He
pulled off the side of the road and we ended up talking and teaching
him for about and hour!! He said that he has been to a lot of different
churches but he just feels something different here.... He is so
amazing!!! ALSO another tender mercy!!! We got a referral from the
English elders in Thompson station so we went to go visit them and they
are amazing!! It's a mom, Angie a dad Eddie and two kids Eddie Jr. (4)
and Amy (2) and they love the gospel. They have been seeing English
elders for the past 2 years but not much has happened.... And now Angie
just loves the gospel and wants to get baptized. The only problem is
that they aren't married.... And that is all that is stopping them from
getting baptized... So hopefully we will be hearing some wedding bells
soon... :)

Also
funny story of the week, We were walking in the trailers and we walked
up to the yard and walk around the side and there was this Hispanic
family, just in the yard gutting a deer. I just stood in shock because I
had never seen that happen before, then I just started laughing because
what!? The guy just is holding the leg while the other one skins it and
just is like "hola buenas noches" then it was weird so we said bye and I
thought Hermana Torres was gonna pass out walking back to the car.

Thanksgiving
should be fun this week! We are allowed to got to two dinners. We are
going to one with an American family, the cooks so that should be really
fun! Then we are going to another at our less active, margaritas
house!! It should be fun to have like an American Hispanic thanksgiving.
I'm a little sad to be missing thanksgiving this year... But it just
sounds like so much fun!! Dinner at aunt cindys and then at grannies on
Friday! Is grannie having more missionaries over again?? I wish I has a
couple like grannie and grandpa in my district. They are just so dang
cute! :) sad to hear about the Utes.... I actually knew about the game
before your guys email.... Oops. Haha we went to dinner Saturday night
and I just was sitting there and I realized the ute game was on tv..... I
only looked for about 1 minute..... There was only 4 minutes left of
the game.... It was sad... I was hoping maybe I would see you guys in
the stands... Hahaha

Well this week was good and I look forward to this next week too :) I love you all so much! And happy thanksgiving!!! :)

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Hello
family! It sounds like things have been good and busy back at home!
Happy first snow fall to you guys!! We have just had glorious rain here
in Tennessee. And when it rains it pours. It pretty fun... I'm kind of
starting to get a bit of a cold so I'm just grateful we have the car
this week :) this last week was so good!!!! We didn't have the car and
it was probably our best teaching and finding week! We were pretty
excited. We actually did exchanges with the sister training leaders in
Franklin this last week and I was super stressed that I was gonna have
to stay in columbia and attempt to speak Spanish by myself. But
thankfully I went to Franklin so that was fun!!! But I did have to speak
some Spanish. Since we have some investigators there sister Dixon
wanted me to go and follow up with them... HAHA it wasn't too bad.... I
did have to default back into English a couple of times. It was actually
a really good experience to have. It made me realize how I need to just
be that much more confident in my Spanish. It's getting there. Little
by little. We had like a wayyyyy good lesson with Felipe this last week
too. Sister noble came and kinds just told him what's up. It was
awesome. Sister noble is the bomb member missionary!!! Felipe said he
was going to start reading her Book of Mormon for real this time and
start praying. So that was really good!!! :) we have this new
investigator, Felix who is probably like 65 or so and he is really cool!
But just such a crazy Hispanic. Sometimes he just says how he wants to
learn more and know God better and then he goes off about something
random like about midgets and satan.. It's rather strange... so we taught him Saturday and we
asked him not to drink alcoholnSaturday or Sunday and to come to church.... And on Sunday morning guess
who was at church? Felix!! And his friend. It was great!!! And the
Spanish members were totally just fellow shipping him like crazy. It was
so great!! We were so happy and he told us he didn't drink for those two
days :) hopefully we can start seeing more success with him!!

Our
Ward had like a breakfast for dinner, Ward dinner on Saturday and it
was great!! We had 8 nonmember Hispanics come and 7 less actives
come!!!! Plus our Hispanic members too. It was great!! We were so so
happy. Our Ward is starting to get more comfortable with them and with
us too!! And on Sunday our less active margarita and her kids came to
church!! And stayed for all 3 hours too!! It was awesome. We had a
lesson with her after and she said that she really loved the sacrament.
She felt so much peace and happiness. Yay!! I love her she is so
amazing!

So
something kind of funny that happened this week was we were teaching
and this little boy brings out his pet chicken. And it's just running
around the trailer. Hahahaha I felt like dad would have died. It was so
funny. I got some pics with it to show you! Also it was transfers and I
am obviously staying here in Columbia so that will be fun!! :) I can't
believe thanksgivings next week!! How crazy. And then soon enough it
will be Christmas.

This
week was so busy but so good and this next week is going to be even
busier I feel!! So that is just even better :) I love being a
missionary. Everyday I am just happy to be here to be with these people.
I couldn't imagine doing anything else!!! I have really been able to
draw closer to my father in heaven and truly trust and rely on him and
my savior Jesus Christ. I just love this gospel so much!! And I just am
so honored that I get to wear Christ's name over my heart everyday day
:)

Also
very glad to hear that's the Utes are still doing good!! I can't
believe that basketball is already starting up!!! That kind of makes me
sad. Just because you know how much I love basketball too... Oh well!
You will just have to keep me updated on it all!! Thanks for all your
love and support!! Love you all so much!!

Love always,

Hermana Lizzy Brown :)

Trying to take artsy pics while walking and walking and walking some more

Monday, November 10, 2014

It
sounds like y'all have had a crazy fun filled week! I'm glad you had a
good rest of the week in Arizona! I hope you got some videos or at least
a photo or two of you guys sliding down the slide or something! Hahaha
that sounds like a blast!

Well the weeks with the car go by wayyyyyy to
fast!!! But it's okay because this week was a great week!! But first
off, so sad news... Felipe won't be getting baptized on Saturday :( boo.
This week we had been talking about it and getting him excited and
answering his questions. But something just felt off. On Friday we had
the trainer trainee meeting where we got with all the other trainers and
trainees, I got to see Hermana Levao, I was so happy!! :) anyway the
meeting went great!! But after, Hermana Torres and I were talking and we
both felt like he just wasn't ready. But we didn't want to tell him
that... But we went into our lesson and he told us he was thinking about
that, just not ready.

This
last Sunday was also our primary program. It was SO cute!! We have a
ton of kids in our ward. I love it. our bishopbric is amazing!!! Seriously. Just the best. So we are
thankful for that. This week was a pretty good week though!!! I feel
like where did the week go? But that's pretty good I guess!

This
morning I actually had a really good scripture study! I was reading in 3
Nephi 9 and it is right after Christ's death and right after the 3 days
of darkness and they hear Christ talking. I love love love verses 13-14

13
O all ye that are spared because ye were more righteous than they, will
ye not now return unto me, and repent of your sins, and be converted,
that I may heal you?

14
Yea, verily I say unto you, if ye will come unto me ye shall have
eternal life. Behold, mine arm of mercy is extended towards you, and
whosoever will come, him will I receive; and blessed are those who come
unt

I
was listening to a conference talk by Elder Allen Packer and he quoted
Elder Oaks and he said "A testimony is to know and to feel. Conversion
is to do and to become." And I really just love that. And that's what
Christ is inviting us to do. To be converted unto him by using his
atonement.

The
frustration with Spanish is definitely still here but I'm just trying
to take it paso a paso. So in lessons I
try as hard as I can to pay attention and to speak but sometimes I just
can't then she has me explain something in Spanish that I have never
even taught anyone before and I don't know how. That happened last night
and I was actually just mad. And I might have started crying in the
closing prayer cause I was so mad. It's just so frustrating. But I am
trying to take the frustration and use it to my advantage. My writing
and reading in spanish has gotten better so that is a plus! I'm just
trying to make the most of it. :)

I'm
glad you got my letter and that all is well at home :) I'm sorry it's
starting to get colder. It's back and forth here. One day it's freezing,
the next day it's super warm... So we never know what we'll get! Sad
the Utes lost :( do they play this next week? I hope hope hope they do
good!! Thanks for all your love and support and especially your prayers.
I love you all so much! :)

Thursday, November 6, 2014

Can
you believe that it's November already!? What the heck! This is crazy.
And I'll tell you, it's starting to get pretty cold here... Uh oh I
might be in trouble. The actual temperature isn't too cold but the winds
are what are killer.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! It's so weird to have
holidays on the mission. Seriously. But it was a good Halloween, how was
your guys? Although I had no scones I did get fed pozole, so you know I
was the happiest girl ever. We went to the wad party and it was fun.
They had a chili cook off and a trunk or treat! One of our less actives
came with their families and some investigators too :) our Ward is nice
but no parkview Ward.

Haha okay so this week was crazy and went by so
fast. But that's good. It was really warm the first couple of days of
the week and we rode our bikes... Joy. Haha it's getting better. We had a
crazy experience with Irene and her oldest daughter Betsy on Tuesday.
We went into going to teach about the plan of salvation and all of a
sudden Irene says she really wants Betsy to get baptized and how she
wants to too. WHAT??? Hahaha crazy. So I mostly talked to Betsy in
English and Hermana Torres was talking to Irene in Spanish. Betsy is so
confused and has so many questions. She said she really loved how we
teach and that it all just makes sense! It's crazy. Hoping to set s
baptismal date next week with her :) and on Wednesday we had our English
classes! We had 5 people come. It was great but English is actually
really hard! I had a hard time teaching it. But everyone said they liked
it so that is good! And we hope next week we will have more people come
too! We also had interviews with president and that was really good. He
made me feel a lot better about how I am feeling as a newbie
missionary. He is such an amazing president and I am so glad to have him
as my mission president. He truly has the strongest testimony and cares
about all the missionaries. Also we have been visiting a less active
family a ton, well the parents are members (less actives) and none of
their kids have been baptized though. Their oldest daughter invited us
to her band concert on Thursday night and we went. I love this family so
much. The mom is margarita, the dad I actually don't know his name, but
he is never home when we go over cause he works a lot... But he is
kinda interesting... Then their oldest daughter Ariel is 11, Robert is
9, Erik is 8, Ilene is 6, and Gordo is 2! They are so dang cute. I will
send a picture.

FELIPE
SET A BAPTISM DATE FOR NOV 15!!!! Yayayayayayayaya! The happiest girl
in the world. We challenged him on Wednesday and he accepted but it was
kinda like a soft acceptance. Then on Saturday we had a lesson with him
and before we even started he said, remember the 15th. And we finally
got him to pray with us too. It was a great lesson and really overall
great week! It's been hard with him because he doesn't really express
his feelings all that well so sometimes we don't really know what he is
thinking. But we have been starting to ask him more questions so that
he can teach us.

ALSO!
I was sooooo surprised what I found on our door step on Thursday night.
How nice of the rasbands and Marcie!! I felt bad because we never got
in contact with her but she left another note on the door Saturday night
too. She is so cute. Tell her I say thank you and I'm sorry I missed
her, it was a crazy week and weekend. It was so nice to get that and
just feel all that love and support.

Like
i said, the weather has gotten pretty chilly but it's also been so dang
pretty too. I will send you pictures of all the fall weather we have
been having!! I love it. Since there are tress everywhere, that means,
leaves everywhere!!

The
Spanish have their own sacrament meeting on fast and testimony meeting,
so I bore my testimony! In Spanish of course. I think it went pretty
well. It wasn't totally awful I don't think
but man our Spanish members need some help. About 2/3 is made up the
Abac family, and they are great and usually come every week, man they
are different. Haha one of the little girls was walking around drinking a
coke and eating chips.... It was hard because 1 I can't drink coke on
the mission and 2 it was fast Sunday haha temptation at its finest. We
are hoping to work with them so that they can feel the spirit more while
at church.

We
also had a kind of interesting experience last night. We were knocking
doors and this lady answered and at first she seemed really nice but
something was off. She invited us in and Hermana torres and I both just
kind of had a weird feeling about her but not s bad get out feeling. We
kinda might think she is a witch. She really liked our message and the
restoration of the gospel, but then she would go on tangents and just
quote random bible scriptures and told us how she is a seer? And has
like a crazy mind and stuff... It was interesting. We probably won't go
see her again... Just refer her to the English sister.

This
week I have really been focusing on the atonement and how I can better
understand the atonement and apply it to my life so I can help those I
teach to better understand it. I have been finding some really good
talks to help me better understand it. Elder Nelson gave a really good
talk about the Atonement and why it's so important. He talks about how
the creation, the fall, and the atonement all loop together. My favorite
part of his talk was this part "The
Creation required the Fall. The Fall required the Atonement. The
Atonement enabled the purpose of the Creation to be accomplished.
Eternal life, made possible by the Atonement, is the supreme purpose of
the Creation. To phrase that statement in its negative form, if families
were not sealed in holy temples, the whole earth would be utterly
wasted. The purposes of the Creation, the Fall, and the Atonement all
converge on the sacred work done in temples of The Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints. The earth was created and the Church was
restored to make possible the sealing of wife to husband, children to
parents, families to progenitors, worlds without end." I just love that.
I love the temple and I am so grateful I am able to be sealed to my
family forever! And wow I just love it.

Last
week was a really good week! I am excited about this next week. We have
a pretty full week ahead of us so that's good! And we have the car.
Even better :) thats crazy there weren't too many kids at grandmas
Halloween party! But it's good cause we are doing what's right, right!?
Sounds like Jake and Hayden are doing well too :) I'm sad that Halloween
was so lonely :( but those scones just looked so good and so did the
sugar cookies! Haha I saw them in a corner of the picture. I'm so sad
the Utes lost :( but it sounds like you have had a good little trip and
get away to Arizona! I swear now that my parents are empty nesters all
they want to do is go on trips.... Haha I'm glad you guys are having
fun!

I love you so so so much! I hope you guys have a great, fun, safe week! I love you :)

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

HAPPY
TWO MONTHS TO ME. So I have realized that in all my other emails it s
been about my week and I will keep doing that, but I kinda wanna tell
yall about Tennessee!! Okay so there are trees everywhere! And like
hills too. And Saturdays are my favorite because everyone is just
walking around places in their Tennessee orange t shirts. It's so cute!
It's kinda funny though because it's kinda like byu and Utah but
Tennessee and Alabama hahaha I always tell people i know one of the
quarterbacks... Hahaha anyway, as you know the south is called the Bible
Belt, and it's so beyond true!!! First, there are SO many churches. And
it's just crazy. Like the same religion, but 12 different churches,
with different names and it just a lot. To me that doesn't make much
sense....but whatever haha it's actually pretty amazing to watch
people's faces when we tell them that our church is all over the world.
It's also awesome because then we can ask them if they have ever
wondered why there are so many churches, a great way to go into the
restoration! So far we have only had one time where someone kinda wanted
to bible bash a bit... (Some preacher) but we stayed cool and just let
him talk. But occasionally I had to slip In a couple verses to help him
understand. It was so interesting. He was trying to tell us that in the
bible it says we should not add or take away from the word of God,
trying to tell us that the Book of Mormon contradicts the bible, but he
is reading this verse out of some modern bible that doesn't even use the
correct words as the bible. And I just was thinking... Man you are
doing exactly what the bible says you shouldn't do! The people are
pretty nice here. But some people can be pretty rude too... But it's all
good! I'm lucky and Hispanics are all really really nice to us. To be
honest I haven't had like super good southern food yet.... Mostly cuz we
eat with Hispanics... But that also means REALLY good authentic food
too... Not complaining :)

This
week was good, we had some way good lessons with Felipe! On Monday we
had the most amazing lesson. We have really gotten past that awkward
stage and finally we are getting better acquainted with him. And we joke
around which is good but then we have like these amazing lessons! He
felt the spirit so strongly. It was awesome. He was almost in tears. It
was great! We talked about baptism again but not so much pressure on
him. He says he wants a family like mine and Hermana Torres. He wants
happiness. He says it's hard because he needs to show his faith, then he
said, well maybe that is by baptism. I was smiling so hard it probably
scared him but whatever. It was great. He is so awesome! But please
please pray for him. He needs it! I'm afraid he is starting to go into a
depression and we really don't want that at all. He is amazing. I can
really start seeing people as Christ's sees them since being out on the
mission. It's incredible.

Another really cool thing happened to us on Tuesday night too!
We decided to stop at the laundry mat before heading in for the night,
we had about 20 mins left and we met this lady Rhonda. She was amazing.
And I mean we didn't talk much about the gospel but we just chatted
about life and everything. And she really was just awesome. We all
connected so fast. And I just love her. She told us she loves learning
about God and listening about other churches because after her mom
passed away it's really helps her. Well I just bore my testimony about
how our message will help her feel peace in her life and that she will
be able to find happiness at those times. And she was just so cute and
smiled and said "wow y'all are gonna make me cry" and we just told her
we loved her and we barely know her and we hugged and she said she would
call us... So I sure hope so! Then we are walking to the car and this
lady comes like running to us and says "are you guys missionaries?
Mormon missionaries?" And we go "yeah we are!" And goes "can I have s
Book of Mormon? And a pamphlet if you have one?" I was in awe. So I
guess this lady, Deborah, had the missionaries teach her and her mom
like 20 years ago, but nothing really happened cuz her mom died and she
moved her and she just kinda forgot about it all. Then she said the last
few months she had been praying so hard to God for help and strength.
And when she saw us she remembered the other missionaries that taught
her mom. She said has been looking for us and wants to come to church.
It was CRAZY. I about cried right there. I have been praying so hard to
find someone who is looking for us. Ahhh she said she was gonna go home
and read the Book of Mormon tonight. Wow. The lord is so amazing and I just am happy I get to experience all these miracles.

Okay
I just have one story that is probably my grossest story so far with
bugs n all... But so idk if yall remember telling you about Tina but
Tina just has a lot of problems and we always go and I visit her or try
to once a week. Well we went yesterday and ohhhhh her trailer is full of
bugs. Big ones, small ones, all kinds. It's so so so gross... No le
Gusta. Like I didn't want to have a grossed out face the whole time but I
probably did. But it was bad. Just all on the walls, floors, tables.
Everywhere. It was awful. I just have a feeling dad would have maybe had
a panic/freak out. We got out of the lesson and just looked at each
other and wanted to cry cuz we thought we got bug infested. Seriously.
Ew.

This
week was good and I am praying next week is too! :) I love you so much,
thanks for all your thoughts and prayers. Have a good week and happy
Halloween :) I will send pics next week from, our Ward Halloween party/
mine and Hermana Torres' Halloween party cuz we have to be in early that
night. Love you all so much!

Love always,

Hermana Brown :)

We broke down and got mcdonalds breakfast today... I love those cinnamon melts

Monday, October 20, 2014

This
week has been an okay week but gone by fast! But also slow.... The days
feel like weeks and the weeks feel like days... SO true. Well Monday
was a good day, we just cleaned our nasty apartment and went to the
store, which was a scene because we bought a little too many groceries
for our baskets on our bikes haha but we made it work. Then, we were
getting all ready to go out and teach Felipe and weather goes crazy.
Serious. Then we get a text saying there is a tornado warning and to not
go out until. 6:30 or told otherwise. So then about 6:15 we get a Text saying to not go out until 7... And then our zone leaders said we needed to be inside by 8:30 because the storm was gonna get worse, right when we got in at 8:30, things got crazy outside! It's amazing how brave I have gotten from coming out on my mission
Tuesday was better but not by a ton, it's been hard getting around
without a car, we trade with the elders every other week, and some of
our members and investigators live so far away... Our closest member to
us is the Abac family and it takes us about 40 mins just to walk to
their house... Luckily we have been able to find rides. It's hard cause
we want to ride our bikes, but when it's rainy and all sorts of windy we
would rather just walk, it's a lot easier, and I mean I don't have rain pants like E does... Haha just kidding. BUT we challenged Felipe to
get baptized on November 1st!
He is so awesome. But also so frustrating to us as missionaries. He
knows why baptism is important and how he needs it to change his life,
he says he will prepare to be baptized that day but he can't commit....
It's so frustrating! I think he has a hard time reading the Book of
Mormon and praying. We are going to focus more on that next lesson. We
had dinner at the Abacs again and it was good! Just different. I am
happy I have been taking those probiotics because seriously some of the
stuff they give to us to eat is kind of a littler interesting.

Wednesday
was a better day! But we decided to bike... Oh man. Columbia just have
like tons of little hills and it hurts. I should have been better
prepared... But it was good for me! Oh but we had a terrible experience.
We were knocking doors and on the last house we knock and the door is
open and we can hear him and like 3 mins later this guy comes all
wrapped up in some blanket. And we start talking to him and he goes "I
would love to listen to your message, but let me hurry and go and put
some clothes on..... We go "okay..." He walks inside and Hermana Torres
and I just look at each other like what the heck.... But he was a nice
guy and listened to our message and we talked for awhile! Then we headed
back home because one of the ward members was bringing us dinner. Her
name is sister Brady and wow she is the sweetest nicest southern lady
you will ever meet! After we left for our appointment with Felipe. But
we had to walk... And it was a lot farther on foot. But when we were
about halfway there we got a text from him saying he just got back from
his doctors appointment and he was so tired. I don't know if I mentioned
this before, he fell at work a couple months ago and the
doctors thought he would be paralyzed and he is now walking. Truly a
miracle. And it's crazy, but this accident has really humbled him and
helped him realize what he wants in his life. Anyway he canceled and
that sucked because we still had an hour in a half before another member
picked us up for our other lesson. So we just went finding. We had
another lesson with a lady named Irene and she is awesome but is a
talker! Unfortunately sister noble and Hermana Torres had to listen to
her talk about the same thing for 1 hour, because the little girl just
wanted to talk with me, in English. Even better but I taught her the restoration and I tried my best to help a 7 year old understand!

Thursday
was a great day! Like I said earlier, our area is huge and we cover a
couple towns. Well we went to Franklin for a day and it's SO cute! I
love it there. Franklin is actually really wealthy and where a ton of
famous people live. It felt like straight out a movie scene. We went
tracting there up in a trailer park and it was like heaven haha I think
there were maybe 2 white families in the whole park, the rest =
Hispanics. And it was like a nice trailer park too! Haha nice compared
to the ghetto ones in Columbia. Then we decided to walk back to down
town and wait for our ride. It is so cute. And I guess some LDS people
own this frozen yogurt shop so we stopped by and they gave free frozen
yogurt. My fav! We came back and met with Felipe. He is great, but it's
just so hard. His life is hard right now. He doesn't do much and his
kinda ex girlfriend/ not ex girlfriend won't let him see his son ever
and he can't work and he is home alone all day. Can't walk all that well
and is only 26... It's just hard. We read the book of Mormon together
and he loved it. We read in Enos and all about Enos' prayer and
everything. It was awesome. We are still trying to do our best with that
baptism date!

Friday
was a looooooong day! Since I have training and language study we are
in the apartment for 2 extra hours... So that means until 12... Then we
have lunch and on Friday we do daily planning which usually takes about 2
1/2 to 3 hours to do... But after weekly planning we went to go and
have soupas at Hermana Angeles house. It was so fun. We taught her for
awhile and talked about going to the temple. She is amazing. Hermana
Torres and I have decided to give free English classes once a week! We
went and made flyers and passed them around. As we were walking a guy in
our Ward pulled up and invited us to dinner with his family. We walked
over to the restaurant and it was so good. Really yummy southern
food!the family was so nice. After we saw this girl we had talked to for
a bit, Molly. She is so cute. And I feel like she really wants change
in her life.

Saturday
was a good day! Hermana Anegles' sister, Olivia (who is Felipe's
woman... Sorta...) was moving into a new apartment so in the morning we
went and helped move. It was fun!! Hispanics are so awesome. I love
them! After just went out teaching, and finding, and finding and
teaching. It went great. We went to go meet with Felipe and when we got
there their was no one but his brothers home so we couldn't go inside
and his other brother and some friends were having a normal Saturday night...
Drinking in the front. We left him with a quick message and an article
about why the Book of Mormon is so important. We continued looking,
walking, finding, and teaching the whole night. Spanish, I love it, but
it has become a frustration for me. I just want to connect with my
investigators and build that relationship....

Today was awesome!! We had a special mission meeting tonight and
guess who was our guest speaker? DAVID ARCHULETA. it was really cool!
All the sisters were kinda freaking out but it was just awesome. This
week I have been stressing and been frustrated with Spanish and he just
was a tender mercy to me, the things he said. One of my favorite things
he said was, "Take a step. It's scary on the stormy waters. All you need
to do is take a step and trust in the savior. Do you trust the savior?
He will give you the strength to do the miracles that are out of your
comfort zone." I need to just do the best I can with Spanish and trust
that I can do the best I can because right now speaking in Spanish is
definitely out of my comfort zone but I need to trust that the Savior
will be there for me and help me get my message across the way. I also
saw Elise!!!!! It was so fun! She was the first person I saw when we
walked in the church! She is so dang cute. And I was so happy to see
her!

Overall
this week was frustrating and really great at the same time! I am so
happy to be here. And it just is such a tender mercy to be here and know
that I have my support from my family. I love you all so much. Maybe
even too much... Hahaha thanks for being the best, and of course, GO
UTES!

Xoxo

Hermana Brown

Ps DAAAANK (do you guys miss me yet? Swag)

Country side of Tennessee

Downtown Nashville

Downtown Nashville and sunset

The activity day girls sent these to me, SO CUTE

Cats on a car

ME AND ELISE (I look kinda scary and gross cuz I was so tired.. But so happy and energized at the same time haha)

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

This
is gonna be a LONG email because I typed on my iPad just every night so
I can get the most info to you guys for my first week :) but first I
will tell you some basics. First off I need a bike, BUT good news, there
is a walmart down the street and I can just buy one there. Is that
okay? Should I just use the American Express? Second THANK YOU SO MUCH
FOR MY WELCOME PACKAGE :) it was just what I needed :) I have the best
mom and dad ever! I love you both so much! Okay get ready to read :) -
my address is 1513 Hatcher Ln #F66 Columbia TN 38401 so check out on
Google maps my ghetto home... Haha and just send letters and packages
there too :)

Tuesday
10/7/14 Today was a good day! My first day as what I felt like, a real
missionary! How cool is that? Yesterday was a long day! Well listen to
what happened on our way to Tennessee.... Okay the flight was like....
45 mins, way short! But it was so bumpy... I hated every second of
that.... Then as we were starting our descend you won't believe what
happened. Our plane got struck by lightening!! Like all of a sudden
there was this bright flash and pop and our plane made these weird
movements and everyone on the flight was thinking the same thing....
Like holy crap our plane just got struck by lightening... Can you
imagine how I reacted? So me and Hermana Levao said a prayer and then we
landed like 10 minutes after that, safe and sound :) then we met
president Anderson and sister Anderson too :) they are so nice!
President Anderson reminds me of like a mix of Scott Hutchison and
President Bryan... Haha he is awesome! We met with them then they told
us to go proselyting in the airport while we were waiting for the Provo
missionaries to come in. THAT WAS TERRIFYING. But after some prayers we
were able to get the courage and pass out some Restoration pamphlets!
After once the new missionaries came we left for the mission home. Wow.
Tennessee is BEAUTIFUL. it has everything. Green. I felt completely at
home. The mission presidents house is huge! And really nice. We had
dinner then orientation stuff then we got our iPads which also is really
nice. After we had a small devotional. I had a hard time staying awake.
I was so tired. We finally got to bed at like 11:30! The beds at the mission home are SO COMFY. like the comfiest bed ever. I slept like a baby. Tuesday morning we
had breakfast then packed up the cars and went to transfer meeting.
That was cool. It was fun, all the missionaries who left this week spoke
and then they announced us and our trainers! My trainer is Hermana
Torres and she is from Texas. Her family is from Monterrey Mexico! She is
fluent in Spanish and English, which is actually a blessing! She has
only been out for 4 months! I love her, she is awesome! After we packed
up our stuff in a members car and off we went to Columbia! It's about 45
mins south of Nashville! It's really awesome! I love it here!! It's
what some people call the city sticks but definitely still a city! It's
beautiful too with all trees and changing leaves. But it's crazy. So we
are called to the Columbia Spanish area... But since we are the only
Spanish we actually cover 2 other areas, spring hill and franklin! Which
is like so far! Hermana Torres and I are "white washing" the area.
Which means we both are new to the area. We are replacing elders and
they haven't had Hermanas in like years they said! We got to our
apartment and let's just say.... Sketchy haha and elders are pretty
gross.... And it smells like Vegas haha the guy below us is like this
crazy chain smoker... So we got all our stuff in and then we had a
dinner appointment at some members house. The Abacs! They are really
nice and from Guatemala! Dinner wasn't bad... Haha I didn't say much
because well my Spanish isn't that good... Haha but I tried my best and
just listened to as much as I could. The food wasn't bad but the drink
was! So it made it even harder to swallow the food or to wash it down.
The rest of the night we went tracting to a trailer park behind the
Abacs house. It was kinda sketchy but we met some nice people and handed
out some restoration pamphlets. After we went and met some of the
investigators that the elders were teaching when they left! We went over
the Aidee and Edger Ponce's house and man are they awesome! It's hard
though because they have been investigating the church for 3 years!! Our
goal is to get them baptized this transfer :) they are so nice. They
have 3 boys too. Also we didn't know how to get back to our apartment
and we didn't even know where we lived so Edgar had us follow him, it
was so nice! We love them! Also there was a HUGE lightening and
thunderstorm tonight which woke me up but I was so tired and out of it, I slept through it!

Wednesday
10/8/14 Today we had our first district meeting! Our district has 6
people total and 3 are new... It was kind of an awkward hour and a
half... But it was good! After the other sisters and Hermana Torres and I
went to chick-fil-a! Yum. My favorite :) and mom's too! Haha later that
night we went to dinner at a less active members house! It was really
fun, we had a ton of food tho. By the end Hermana Torres and I both felt like
we might throw up we were so full! After we went to a members home and
met them! Sister Noble! She is like the best member missionary ever! She
knows all out investigators and is always trying to help us help them.

Thursday
10/9/14 Today was kind of a long day! But it was great. We met with one
of the investigators that the elders left for us, Felipe. We taught him
at sister nobles and the lesson went great. He is so ready for baptism!
Hopefully we can set a date next week and work towards that date for
the next 2 or so weeks :) he has so much faith! He said "I just want to
find happiness and peace in my life" he totally has that desire and want
to change!! That lesson went great. After sister noble made lunch for
us, she is so awesome! We had BLT's and they were so dang good :) the
rest of the day went well, but Hermana Torres and I thought we would
attempt riding bikes since next week the elders have the car. FAIL. Haha
we gave up once we got out of our parking lot. Hopefully this next week
will be netter :) the night was good. We didn't have tons of luck but
we talked to quite a few people. We were knocking trailers again and we
met a cute 15 year old named Angela. She seemed pretty interested and so
we got her number and are hoping to go and visit her next week :)

Friday
10/10/14 Friday was like the best day ever!!! But really long too. We
had studies all morning, conference call, and the our good old 3 hours
of weekly planning! It rained ALL morning. Just pouring pouring pouring.
I loved it. Anyway We went through our area book and made a huge map on
our wall of all the people in it, so then we have people to go and
visit. We set goals for ourselves and that was cool too, just too see
what we can do to be better missionaries. We decided to say specific
prayers to help us. We had texted Felipe to see how he was and if he was
reading the chapter in the BOM that we assigned him. We said a specific
prayer asking if we could hear back from him and right when finished
our prayer, BAM text from Felipe saying he is doing good and we can see
him on Saturday yahoo!, such a cool experience. We then prayed that we
could find someone who would be willing to hear our message and invite
us for a lesson next week and guess what happened? We went to a house in
the area book and a lady answered and she invited us In and her 3 kids
were there and we were just talking and she had so many questions, it
was awesome!! She invited us over for next week :) it's so amazing how
when we pray Heavenly Father truly hears our prayers and when we go
forth with faith our prayers are answered! It's like what president
Hinckley said, "First get on your knees and pray, then get on your feet
and work" it's SO true. Faith without works is dead. The rest of the
night went great just finding and sharing the gospel. Then we decided to
say another specific prayer and ask Heavenly Father to help us find
someone at Walmart who would be receptive to our message. We found her!!
Her name is Gilla and she has two little kids. We shared a quick
message and asked if we could visit her again, she said yes and gave us
her number. She also said she would read the pamphlet and call us if she
had some questions. Wow so humbling! It just makes you want to work
harder and harder to find those who are ready for the gospel!

Saturday
10/11/14 Saturday was a tough day.... It rained ALL day. And was
cloudy, not even a ray of sun, allllll day long. But it kinda made for a
pretty nice gloomy day with all the trees changing colors and stuff! I
will send you pictures :) but we went to this trailer park across town
and we knocked and knocked and knocked. No one would answer. We talked
to a few people but nothing big.... Then we were leaving and we decided
to try one more. We knocked and that's when we met Tina. She isn't
Latino or Hispanic just white, so we got to speak English (my favorite
:)) haha anyway she has been struggling so badly lately. She is such an
amazing person and willing to give anything to help someone in need,
even when she doesn't even have very much. Hermana Torres and I were so
humbled after meeting her. We are going to help her move and find a new
place that's big enough for her and her kids. As well as help her get in
with the church and the churches counseling. She said she can feel
herself starting to get depressed again and she doesn't want to go back
to drinking. She is SO ready for the gospel. Well after that just a day
of no answering. Our 6 o'clock canceled on us :( boo but we just ended
up tracting. Then we met with Felipe again! He is SO awesome! And just
has the best spirit ever. He came with his brother and we actually ended
up teaching him more than Felipe but it was awesome because Felipe was
able to help us teach him too! I was really frustrated during that
lesson tho. Just because I wanted to understand everything everyone was
saying, not just bits and pieces. And because I want to be able to help
them. I feel like I just am a cat sitting and watching. I want a
relationship with these people and this language barrier is kinda a
problem.... I'm just frustrated. I need to realize its my first week out
here and I have been only learning Spanish for like 7 weeks... I guess I
am lucky to even be able to communicate... Besides that and the no sun,
today ended up being a good day out in the field :)

Sunday
10/12/14 Sunday! My first Sunday in the field. And guess who thought
she was just introducing herself to the ward but ended up having to give
a ten minute talk? Haha yours truly.... But it actually went pretty
well if you ask me! I just talked about how important members are in
missionary work! So we don't have a ton of spanish members so we just
have headsets and a translator, usually sister noble, who translates the
meetings. My goal is to be able to translate after my 12 weeks of
training. Felipe came to church today!! And stayed for all 3 hours!!
Also, our less active Anegels came to sacrament meeting, so that was
good too :) she had to leave early for work but we were glad she came.
And after church she wanted to meet with us, it was awesome. She texted
us and said she realized that her way of living life was different than
how God wanted her to.... We were kind of nervous at first, but it was
good! She said she wants to change her life and break up with the
boyfriend she is living with and date/marry someone she can go to the
temple with and so she can be sealed with her daughter and how she wants
to get her patriarchal blessing and everything. She said she is going
to find a new job too! Wow it was so amazing to see how much she is
willing to change here life!

All
in all I am doing good. Hermana Torres is awesome and I just love her!
Tennessee is beautiful but the weather is crazy! I will send you some
videos :) I love you so much! How is E? I didn't hear from her
yesterday... Hope she is okay!